“But they don’t do it that way”. This is something I hear way too often from people in reference to the attention to detail my approach requires when it comes to every aspect of the music industry and what needs to be done differently from what a band is currently doing.

They’re half right. It’s true, many do not put in the effort that I look for and believe is best. They’re half wrong however, in that there are a lot of behind the scenes details that you never see which allow the artist or bands to look as solid as they do. Part of marketing is to make the act look larger than life and make it appear effortless.

When I start with a client that I am consulting with or an artist that I am producing, I would say almost half the time I hear…”they don’t do it that way” or “this is the way I have see it done and it is not the way you are talking about at all.”

The majors, the indies, the newbies and the luckies.

In the major labels, they do set in place these types of budgets and this type of layout. The majors are businesses and corporations that set up business plans, prospectuses and marketing layouts on any project they are going to invest in. They also set up these layouts to acquire investors and backings for projects as well. This is the same format as the independent labels.

When you think of even a basic independent budget, you don’t think a label owner can go to a group of people and say, hey give me some money so I can make a record and see how it does. It is going to take a plan, justifications, basic goals and expectations to gain the capitol to make the recording.

Setting up a business plan like the Freedom Solutions Recording Plan (FSRP) gives an artist a complete layout, from preproduction to post production to the release and initial marketing. This sets up a blueprint plan, which can be used to guide the artist and which also justifies the investment for potential donors, investors or angel capitalists. I create many FSRP Blueprint business plans for artists that are part of other labels and management groups.

These are not albums I personally produce myself, but rather I help to justify the investment in artists from labels, managers and agencies that they may already be involved in.

Of course your, favorite artists are not going to have the business plan from their label up on their myspace. A lot of the details around the creation and funding for some of the upper echelon artists are kept private, just like a lot of the other initial elements. The industry isn’t necessarily trying to hide them, They’re just looking to give the best appearance without going into all of the intricacies on the business side of things.

The image of some alt rockers should be the shows, the band, the vibe, the tour bus, the merchandise. That is what they want presented. Not the marketing encapsulations, budgets, layouts, tax sheets and all the logistics. I mean, hey, taxes aren’t very rock and roll.

Now, occasionally you will run into that one band, which actually came out of nowhere, had none of their stuff together and just broke through. This is the fairy tale Cinderella story … this story comes to fruition less than .001 percent of the time. Trying to follow the lucky ones is not much of a recipe for success.

At the same time, following suit and imitating your favorite big label acts is not the smartest approach either. While it is a strength to be musically inspired by them, copying their marketing tactics can be foolish.

Think of this way. Take a band that you are a big fan of, one whose logo might not be up to the level of how I advise independent artists to have their logos. Perhaps it is a little extra artsy and hard to read, that logo is effective not for its layout, but for the marketing campaign behind it.

When a marketing and promotional campaign is launched for a major label or high level independent label band, a great deal of money is put out for advertising, branding, promoting and just getting that sound, that look and that image out to the public.

These groups have large sums of cash that allow, not so much for corners to be cut, but for images and elements to be different, since the balance of effective materials to effective money to market are shifted more toward the cash.

Now most groups are not millionaires and most groups are going to put the bulk of the money in to the recording. Still, money has to be budgeted out for the promotions, marketing and branding. If this doesn’t happen, how will you get the word out about your band and your recording?

Taking the steps to have a logo that is effective, and have materials that go above and beyond with the proper content, bios and professional layouts, is crucial. From the appearance of your disc to your myspace, to your website and everything in between, it has to stand out, be easy to recognize, and have uniformity and continuity so that you can not only reach the new fans that will gravitate to you when they first see you, but also the fans that will take a little longer. These are the ones that continue to see your logo and your tagline around, and see your music and your bio showing up more and more. These are the type of fans you might call the late bloomers, and when you have a constant and steady stream of marketing the right way, the more they see of you and the more they will be drawn to you.

A band, artist or group is still, in a way, a product. It takes the right marketing to find the sales, recognition, fan base and continuity to survive in the industry. It is no longer about waiting for that big deal to happen and letting some big label come in, sweep you up and take care of all the little intricacies. It’s now up to you.

Creating the most detailed package that encompasses everything from the music to the assisting materials, is absolutely required to survive today. Making those items stand out in the best and most effective way possible may mean you might have to pull back some on the artistic element as far as the marketing is concerned. (I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT PULLING BACK ON THE ARTISTIC ELEMENTS OF THE MUSIC!!!) You may have to make the logo a little bulkier, you might have to choose a tagline that you always use and you might have to make your package as a whole more top notch than those you see around you, but it will produce results.

With the mixture of the strongest elements from your preproduction, post production and release combined with the efforts of the artist to push through to new channels everyday by collecting new contacts and resources, by researching new venues and avenues to distribute these materials to, you will have a fighting chance for success. It will take all these elements working together and the minute you cut one area or one corner, you are diminishing the opportunities and chances that you might have.

When you say to yourself, well they aren’t doing it that way, take a careful look to see why they don’t do it that way. 99% of the time it’s because they have the supplement of large money or a marketing push allowing them to do it differently. The industry is dramatically changing. What was the way even five years ago is not the best path now. Arm yourself with the excess of preparation, details and a well put together package, with the music, the marketing, the promo and the branding in order and you will thrive.